hey, what's that? That'd be my first proper hardcore attempts at blocking (spritzing worsted yarn with a little water probably doesn't count). But Clare, if you're so hardcore, where the hell are all the pins to keep the shoulders nice and the lace lacy? Uh, I don't have any. Nope, no pins here. Look, it's mostly cotton, the towel kinda grips the edges, okay? It's a bath towel folded double placed on my bathroom floor. Oh, for a blocking board (or an ironing board not covered in my housemate's 'To Iron' pile)...
Here is a mystery though. The pieces were really, really water resistant. Is this a characteristic of cotton, or of rayon, or of silk? Or is it likely that the yarn was treated with something? And mystery number two: why is the front larger in all dimensions than the back, when there were, number-wise, more stitches across the back? I blame something to do with the short-rows, mehself.

All up I'm kind of pleased. Blocked and held over a light colour the little lace flowers actually look floral, and you can see where the vertical bands go diagonally outwards before they go directly vertical (I worked real hard on getting that bit nice). And the bobbles aren't as warty as I always thought.

I just really, really hope that it fits okay. It looks really large compared to other fitted tops I own, but I keep reminding myself that this has no lycra/ elastine in it, thus should look larger.